You never get a second chance...

....to make a first impression.

I've recently been invited to a new Yahoo group, one for adoptive parents who have passed court. This group is full of educated, professional, wise parents who share their vast knowledge about attachment, bonding, trauma and grief in adopted children.  They are the coup de grace, the creme de la creme, the echelon, the Jedi knights of adoptive parenting.  These people are the sort who can hold down a job, go home at 5:30 to cook a gourmet meal, take their children to playgroups on weekends, research attachment therapy and split the atom on their lunch breaks. 

I mostly lurked during my first week or so on the group, not wanting to draw attention to the adorable yet ignorant little Ewok who has just toddled onto the scene. What do I know about parenting internationally adopted children?  I haven't even started yet.

And then came yesterday.  Someone I admire very much posted a question, wondering where a great vacation destination would be for her family, including her young children.

"Oh! This is my big moment to make a great first impression," I thought.  "I know the perfect place!"

I clicked on "reply," and chirped, at great length, about a wonderful resort I'd been to in Jamaica, where the sand was white, the water was blue, the pina coladas were icy, and who wouldn't want to go there?  "I can't recommend it highly enough," I gushed.  "Perfect for the whole family."

But...

When I signed onto the message boards today and read someone's reply to my post, the blood drained out of my face.

It seems that FDR Pebbles, the resort I praised up and down, has become a nudist resort.

Yes, I have just told the entire Canadian community of parents of Ethiopian-born children to take their children to a nudist colony for their spring break.

I'd make this post a little longer, but I want to go call the pastor's wife.  I have a movie to recommend for the Sunday School children to watch: Saw 3D: the Final Chapter.  I hear it's fantastic.